Sports stars’ strange rituals

Why wearing lucky pants, shaving their head, and stepping on a soggy towel could just propel Team GB to gold at this year’s Olympics...

The word is Wimbledon champ Serena Williams keeps winning due to a whiffy pair of unwashed socks.

Yes, according to 888Poker she’s admitted that when she’s on a winning streak, she’ll keep wearing the same pair, without ever washing them.

So could wearing a pair of lucky pants, stepping on a soggy towel or shaving one’s head result in a clutch of gold medals for our very own Team GB athletes in Rio this August?

Sports stars are probably among the most superstitious people in the world, and many of them have their own little lucky ritual that they’ll keep on repeating whenever they have a big game, match or tournament coming up, in the hope it helps propel them to success.

Online poker site, 888Poker, has compiled an infographic detailing the weirdest and most wonderful rituals of 15 of the biggest professional sports players in the world, including some of the athletes representing Team GB.

And it makes for some very colourful reading.

For example, Olympic cyclist Laura Trott now has to step on a wet towel before she heads on to the track, after winning the Junior World Championships with one wet sock. And long distance running champ Mo Farah absolutely has to shave his head before a race.

“Every athlete has a pre-race routine to get focused,” he explains. “Mine is to shave my head. I like feeling the smoothness of the scalp and splashing cold water on it once I’m done.”

For many sportspeople, what they’re wearing is important to them; it either has to be the same thing throughout their match or tournament, or something of the same colour.